The Russian branch of Austria’s Raiffeisenbank Bank International reduced funds in its correspondent accounts 2.7-fold in August 2024, slashing the accounts by a record RUB421bn to RUB242bn, Kommersant daily reports citing the bank’s reporting.

This category includes all correspondent accounts, with both Russian and foreign banks,  as well as correspondent accounts with the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). Such massive movements of correspondent accounts could be directly related to a significant reduction in the bank's cross-border transfers, the analysts surveyed by Kommersant believe.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, Raiffeisen Bank Russia announced it will cease all outbound cross-border foreign currency transfers for individuals starting September 2, 2024, following directives from the European Central Bank (ECB) to its parent company. 

Raiffeisenbank's press service told Kommersant that “the main reason for the decrease in balances on correspondent accounts is the transfer of rubles from correspondent accounts to deposits with the CBR”. 

The bank indeed confirmed that partly the “decline was caused by the reduction of foreign currency balances in customer accounts due to restrictions on foreign currency transfers”. 

Under pressure from the US and the European Central Bank, RBI has been cutting its loan book and has also cut its share in Russia’s payment market by half.  However, both the ECB and the US have continued to increase pressure on the bank to abandon Russia.

Previously the head of the CBR Elvira Nabiullina slammed the pressure exerted by the ECB as “unacceptable”, arguing that “subsidiaries of European and other foreign banks of the Russian Federation are created under Russian laws, work in the Russian legal field and the execution of the requirements of the ECB and following the sanctions of foreign countries contradict the Russian legal order and discriminate against their clients”.

Most recently RBI's hopes of exiting Russia have suffered another major setback after a Russian court in Kaliningrad banned the sale of its shares following a lawsuit brought by oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

RBI, which has the biggest Western-owned banking operation still left in Russia, has so far defied US pressure to leave swiftly, as its Russian subsidiary is so profitable, accounting for half the bank’s income last year, though RBI has not been able to take its profits out of Russia since the invasion. According to some news reports, it is even  still actively hiring staff and growing its business.